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How to Edit Your Facebook Places Privacy Settings

Aug 20 2010 - 2:15am

Facebook Places hasn't even rolled out to all users yet, and already there's a bit of an outcry concerning privacy [1]. Why? Well unlike Foursquare, your friends can check you in to locations without you actually being there, as well as tag you in mobile photos, even if you haven't checked in.

At Wednesday's Facebook Places launch [2] at Facebook HQ, there were a few questions about how exactly this new feature effects privacy. Some of those issues were addressed by Mark Zuckerberg and the Places team, but here, we'll dive in a little deeper and tell you how to change your privacy settings for maximum control over your Places check ins. Follow along in this slideshow!

Customize Your Settings

First, log in to Facebook and head to your account privacy settings (Account > Privacy Settings), and click on the Customize Settings link at the bottom.

Who's Seeing Your Check Ins?

In the "Things I Share" section, scroll down until you find "Places I Check In." You can change this to Everyone, Friends of Friends, Friends Only (default), or Customize.

Customizing Check Ins

If you choose Customize, you'll then find a few more options — Specific People, and Only Me.

If you choose Specific People, you'll be prompted to add a list of friends who can see your check ins

If you choose Only Me, no one will be able to see where you check in.

Hide From Certain People

You can also choose to hide your check ins from certain friends. Just add a list of them in the "Hide This From" section, and they won't see your whereabouts.

People Here Now

If you don't want to be listed as "Here Now" when others check in, you can disable this function here.

Letting Friends Check You In

You can customize your settings further in the "Things Others Share" section, by enabling or disabling your friends to check you in to places. If you haven't set this feature to "Disable," you'll receive a notification saying that your friend wants to check you in. You can choose either "Allow" or "Not Now" for this.

Your Friends' Apps

I've already warned you about your friend's apps pulling your information, and those apps will do the same with your location check ins. In order to customize these settings head to the "Apps and Websites" section (Accounts > Privacy > Applications and Websites), then find the Info Accessible Through Your Friends section. Click Edit Settings.

Editing What Friends' Apps See

I prefer to keep all of my info private from my friend's apps (you never know what they're downloading!), including the places I've visited.